Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainDidsbury sits near the middle of Canadian towns for recorded crime
On Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index, the 2023–2025 average is 59.9, where the typical Canadian town its size sits at 68.5. What’s more, its Safety Grade, B− (#23 of 474 in Alberta), rests on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025: close to the middle of Canadian towns. In a usual year, 17.0 violent incidents and 24.3 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical town its size, 12.9 and 31.2. Of the 3 towns on its borders with figures, 2 record less crime per resident.
Statistics Canada, police-reported crime, 2023–2025 means. The index weighs each crime by its seriousness; rates are incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What stands out about safety in Didsbury
Easing since 2023
Didsbury’s index went from 79.7 in 2023 to 45.9 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
Below Alberta’s typical town
Didsbury’s index of 59.9 compares with 110 for the typical town in Alberta. Towns its size ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Didsbury records 9.1 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Of the 40 Canadian towns nearest it in size, Didsbury places 17th from the lowest index. Towns its size ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Didsbury’s grade
The grade weighs the Crime Severity Index and its violent half, averaged over 2023–2025, against every Canadian town and city neighbourhood of 1,000 people or more.
Its place: #23 of 474 in Alberta and #902 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Year by year in Didsbury: down 42%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 79.7; the lightest was 2025, at 45.9. For the typical Canadian town its size, 2023 gave 74.3 and 2025 gave 64.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Didsbury | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 45.9 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 54.2 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 79.7 | 74.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Didsbury, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
What police record in Didsbury, by type
Against the typical town its size, Didsbury runs highest on mischief (9.1 per 1,000 against 4.9), drug offences (1.3 per 1,000 against 0.7) and fraud (6.7 per 1,000 against 4.9). Break and enter and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 2 | 0.4 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.06 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 11 | 2.1 | 18% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 4.3 | 0.8 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 1.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 24 | 4.6 | 18% |
| Mischief | 47.3 | 9.1 | 23% |
| Weapons violations | 2.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 57.7 | 11.1 | 92% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 4.3 | 0.8 | — |
| Drug violations | 7 | 1.3 | 43% |
| Impaired driving | 8.3 | 1.6 | 69% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0 | 0 | — |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment, incidents a year its own. Cleared: incidents solved by a charge or otherwise, as a share of those reported.
Incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 means, against the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Didsbury comes 17th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norwood Ontario | 5,308 | 25.2 | 31.4 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 14 | Carstairs Alberta | 5,248 | 54.8 | 78.3 | B |
| 15 | Saint-Donat Quebec | 5,087 | 57.5 | 87.6 | B |
| 16 | Grand Bay-Westfield New Brunswick | 5,202 | 58.8 | 54.7 | B− |
| 17 | Didsbury Alberta | 5,185 | 59.9 | 69.6 | B− |
| 18 | Electoral Area C, North Okanagan British Columbia | 5,029 | 61.3 | 74.1 | B− |
| 19 | Starlight Village New Brunswick | 5,108 | 63.2 | 81.9 | B− |
| 20 | Inverness Nova Scotia | 5,138 | 68.4 | 80 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 34 | Kneehill County Alberta | 5,129 | 110.8 | 105.9 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 36 | Westlock Alberta | 5,363 | 129.8 | 116.4 | D |
| … | |||||
| 39 | Big Lakes County Alberta | 5,106 | 167.3 | 179 | D |
| 40 | Nipawin Saskatchewan | 5,033 | 182.3 | 163.9 | D |
The 40 Canadian towns of 2,500+ people closest in population; city neighbourhoods, city totals and reserves are left out. Towns on one police service or detachment share its index.
The Canadian towns closest to Didsbury in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 88 violent incidents a year on Didsbury’s police records (2023–2025)
Violent incidents per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Property crimes per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Statistics Canada counts actual incidents; those police record as unfounded are listed apart and kept out of its crime rates and severity index. Each incident is filed under its most serious violation, which the survey sets partly by the maximum penalty.
And about 130 property crimes, plus 100 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Crime in the places around Didsbury
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Didsbury | 5,185 | 59.9 | 69.6 | B− |
| Carstairs | 5,248 | 54.8 | 78.3 | B |
| Olds | 9,653 | 85.6 | 86.2 | C |
| Mountain View County | 14,802 | 54.8 | 78.3 | B |
Of 3 places nearby with their own figures, 2 come in under Didsbury. Closest is Carstairs, 11.6 km away, at 54.8 to 59.9 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What clearance means. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- An index, not a verdict. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- The index’s scale. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
Questions about safety in Didsbury
Is Didsbury safe?
Police-reported crime in Didsbury scores 59.9 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), with 17 violent incidents and 24.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, the median is 68.5.
What is the most common crime in Didsbury?
The three biggest groups are other Criminal Code offences at 15.8, mischief at 9.1 and fraud at 6.7, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Didsbury?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 42%, to 45.9 from 79.7.
How much of Didsbury’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 44% of violent crime and 29% of everything else, 34% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Didsbury and nowhere else.
Source: Statistics Canada, police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025 (Statistics Canada Open Licence); TownRatings calculation.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services (tables 35-10-0186 to 0190, 0061, 0063, 0064), 2023–2025 · Statistics Canada, Incident-based crime statistics by detailed violations, police services (35-10-0178 to 0185) · Safety Grade: TownRatings calculation. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).